Colonel BORMAN. Sir, I would be remiss if I did not admit that I ani ...

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APOLLO ACCIDENT 215
one indicated nearly 70 pounds of combustible material of one kind
or another was in that spacecraft.
As I understand it, there is a procedure by which before any materials
can be introduced in the spacecraft, they have to be approved, for
several reasons, and I assume one of the tests would be combustibility.
Were some of these materials of 8 combustible nature introduced
into the spacecraft without complying with that procedure?
Colonel BORMAN. Yes, sir; some of them were. For instance, the
pads thalt the hatch was to be rested on, you saw those black pads, they
were not flight items. The configura'tion of the spacecraft is an evolving
thing. When we finally get to the flight day, launch day, we have
a spacecraft that would not have many of the combustibles in it that
were in this particular spacecraft.
However, some of the specifications that NASA used for putting
combustibles within the spacecraft were sufficiently or too permissive.
Some of the equipment that we did not, or that we thought as relatively
harmless if kept away from wires turned out to burn very
readily.
Senator MONDALE. Did the Commission seek to establish responsibility
for that failure to comply with regulations?
Colonel BORMAN. Well, sir, by the failure, you mean the putting in
t h-
Senator MONDALE. In other words, the fact that substantial quantities
of combustible materials were in fact in the spacecraft contrary to
procedures that ere to be followed in such tests.
Did anybody seek to establish who was responsible for this oversight
?
Colonel BORMAN. Yes, sir.
I believe that the responsibility-there were two different problems.
One was the fact that for flight - we had too many combustibles in the
spacecraft.
Now, in some cases these combustibles were installed in violation of
NASA' specifications.
Senator MONDALE. By whom ?
Colonel BORMAN. By the contractor, they are installed by the contractor
but the-
Senator MONDALE. With the approval of the Program Office?
Colonel BORMAN. Yes, sir. In other cases the specifications were
not rigid enough we know now, and it involved-involves the items
that were in for this test only, the mats and the protective liners over
the umbilical cords, they were all in and their presence was noted but
the fact that they were in was not believed to present a hazard and so
dthough they were properly noted and their presence was documented,
they still were there.
VIBRATION TEST
Senator MONDALE. Mr. Thompson, according to reports, spacecraft
012 was delivered to the Cape without being vibration tested, is that
correct 8
Dr. THOMPSON. Yes, sir.
Senator MONDALE. How did that happen ?
Why didn't that test take place?
Dr. THOMPSON. Well, as I understand it, a management decision
was made to depend on the very rigid component ksting-components
had been subjected to a very rigid vibration test.
,